My 7 yr old is a vegetarian. The rest of us are carnivores. If you were to ask her ‘why’, she will tell you ‘she is going to save the animals’. (we have explained to her that the animals we eat were bread specifically for consuming, but she is on a mission) She too will ask at school and restaurants if the items being served are made with meat; if they are she politely says ‘no thank you’ and will go without. She is a very driven and very passionate about animals and the environment. She won’t eat certain chips because they were made with some palm oil (she will read the bags, I don’t)

We get her iron and potassium tested every three months and thus far she is doing great. Although I know that one day she will need a supplement (she does take B) when she approaches puberty, or so I am told, we will cross that bridge when we get to it. In the mean time we make do. And meat is always served if she ever changes her mind.

I will have to get these books. They sound interesting. My daughter is always asking me when she gets older ‘will I become vegetation like her and help her save the animals’? I tell her maybe someday but right now I enjoy my meat. She’ll growl and shrug her shoulders. I will say this I have learned quite a bit from my 7 year old about eating vegetarian and about environmental issues.

I think going all vegan might be hard for me when it comes to serving her, she gets a lot of milk, cheese and right not eggs till she figures that one out.

And just to explain how different my child is for Christmas she asked for a donation to ‘Green Peace’ and the ‘Humane Society’ which her uncle’s gladly gave and she is very proud of that. the Joke in our house is we should have named her Uniqua. She is a tree hugging, ‘The Beatles’ loving, animal loving, Opera loving, flower child, born in the wrong era! My fear is her being teased when she gets older, right now her school mates are fine, but we all know as we get older especially girls they can get, well mean…..

Sarah K.
on April 17th, 2012

Mary, I wouldn’t worry about it. I grew up vegetarian in the 90s and did just fine in school even though I was the only vegetarian in my class. Awareness about being vegetarian and environmentally conscious are more mainstream now than they were 20 years ago. She might face some meanness, but that will happen no matter what she does. Unfortunate part of growing up.